Sexy romp ... if you like being thrown around like a rag doll and grabbed by the throat

If you park your brain at the door and ignore 2024 sensibilities on toxic behaviour, you could probably overlook everything wrong with this modern mini drama and be swept away by the over-the-top bodyguard romance melodrama that tries to be glamourous and sexy. It's an entertaining romp that doesn't require a lot of time commitment or brain cells, and I had to check myself and consider how I wanted to evaluate the show.

Playing to a sultry soundtrack that sounds an awful lot like Billie Eilish, Embrace in the Dark Night pushes the boundaries on what you would traditionally see in C-dramas when it comes to sexual innuendo and tension. (Pretty certain I saw a blurred wall of pink bondage/BDSM paraphernalia!) (So much innuendo! Blink and you'll miss the tongue!)

That's all fine and good, except these mini dramas have also normalized aggressive alpha male characters who make it a regular habit of pushing and pulling female lead character around like a rag doll and grabbing them by the throat. These so-called "alpha males" might seem sexy at a glance, but who really wants to be constantly pinned against a wall, thrown onto a bed or sofa, held against their will, or grabbed by the throat over and over and over and over again, for a kiss? Ugh. I'm sorry, this is neither romantic or "normal".

Embrace in the Dark Night is chock full of this. Yet, compared to other mini-dramas, especially the Republican Era genre where super toxic love/hate relationships are ubiquitous, this doesn't even feel particularly toxic somehow? Maybe this is the desensitization at work. And to be fair, Xu Zheqing's character is otherwise quite protective. But the actress, Gao Rongfang, certainly puts up with a lot of choking in general (even if fake), and a strangulation scene with a villain that looked unsettlingly real.

You may have seen Jesse Ren (who reminds me a little of Wang Ziqi and a dash of Bai Jingting) and Gao Rongfang playing supporting roles in full-length dramas; their acting is fairly decent here and they certainly have enough chemistry to keep the heat level elevated.

The overall story isn't terrible for this genre of melodrama; I didn't mind the less exciting, but sweet, secondary couple; and the production values are pretty good (was it costly to film that chase scene abroad?). But the execution and script could have been a lot better. I laughed at the use of Teslas, since its hackability has been a point of contention among EV enthusiasts and security experts. I couldn't help but wonder if this was an actual product placement or an unauthorized use of the brand, lol.

Despite its issues, I get it -- viewers aren't looking for reality. Audiences want to escape into a fantasy world of amped up sexual tension and unrestrained kissing -- plot-holes and red flags be damned.

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